The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-01-19
CHILDREN'S GARMENTS.
Two Boston Physicians Talk ON the Need Of
Warm House Clothing.

Two Boston Physicians Talk ON the Need Of
Warm House Clothing.
Since children are the only sources
from which the coming men and women
Of America are to grow up, their care,
treatment and rearing are interesting
topics to every loyal citizen who wishes
for the welfare of his country. Taking
natural instinct out OF the question and
looking upon children simply as recruits
for the ever-growing human race
plants in the nursery, from which new
orchards must he selected and the
man who wishes that his offsprings may
shape the course of history when he
shall be dust, and the welfare of the
little ones comes home to every one
with an appealing earnestness that
money or any object for which people
strive and labor cannot have. The
coward who will stand calmly by and
see himself robbed of property, who
will see his country disgraced and his
religion insulted, will fight to the death
when any one attacks his little ones.
Defense of offspring is the common
banner around which all life, human
and animal, cultivated and savage, rail-
lies.
OF course, then, the best methods of
rearing children, of treating them in
sickness and of clothing them in health
are subjects dear to the hearts of every
parent. In order to supply just such
information a Globe reporter called
upon several leading Boston physicians
and asked them how, in their Judgment,
children should be clothed, so that they
may be healthy and strong, meaning
by children all the little ones between
the ages OF 2 and II years, which is the
period of most rapid growth, and,
therefore deserving of most care.
IF L were to suggest any important
and needed change in the treatment of
children" said a Columbus avenue
physician, Il should say that the reform
must begin in dress The clothing of
the children fits them too closely and
hinders the free development of the
limbs and thorax. Let them wear
loose, easy-fitting garments of warm
material, like flannel, and let there be
none of those tightly fitting trousers
and jackets so often seen on small boys.
If / had thousand boys and girls L
would make them wear loose flannel
garments the year round, varying the
amount according to the season, but
never describing it for linen or cotton
or silk, or any other material. 1t
should be flannel all the year round;
the belts and bands should be loose,
and every garment should be at least
year too large for the wearer. Ny
children would not be so elegant and
| fine-looking as many of the sickly
monstroslties we see on the streets,
but they would be healthier and live
far longer. | would rather raise one
healthy, wide-awake boy who would
grow up to be hearty, pluckv old
man than take the moral responsibility
| OF having a race of dudes on my hands,
whom j know l should have to support
until they died. Health and grit are
the best legacies father can leave
| his children. Given these and all other
blessings will come as matter of
course. Without these the best intel
lects and the best ira ming are of no
USE"
II have no hobby to ride" said an
other, "but if / were to suggest
change in dress, l should plead for
having our children dressed more
warmly in the winter. Take one of our
cold days in January, and when you
go out on the street in your big over
coat and fur cap. you will see all the
schoolboys shivering in jackets that
are not so thick as your undercoat.
People think children can stand lots
of cold. This is a mistake. They can
stand no more than grown people.
Half the ills of childhood are due to
their clothing. "-BoStOn Globe.